


Fragmented Dreams

by prosaicwonder



Category: Beyblade, ベイブレードバースト | Beyblade Burst (Anime)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Ambiguity, Childhood Friends, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, One Shot, Psychic Bond, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-03
Updated: 2016-12-03
Packaged: 2018-09-06 05:03:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8735917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prosaicwonder/pseuds/prosaicwonder
Summary: A long time ago, he thought their meeting might have been fate.





	

**Author's Note:**

> An attempt to get out of writer's block. I think it worked…… lol

He never thought that things would turn out this way.

 

Or maybe he _did_ , but the more he grew up, the more he thought that it was just a childish dream - something his younger self would have believed without hesitation.

 

Though they had long past the stage where they could be considered children, Valt still clung onto that hope. He wouldn’t go through with his plans with anyone else, though: he had made a lifelong promise already.

 

When people would ask him who his favourite person was, he’d always reply with the same answer.

 

The lone syllable was comforting, the way it would ghost across his lips like a summer breeze. The way that same word would evoke his earliest memories, his laughter and his tears, as he would picture those ruby red eyes and gentle smile reserved only for him.

 

_‘Shu…’_

 

A long time ago, he thought their meeting might have been fate.

 

And even though he had long since forgotten about most of his childhood dreams, he still catches himself thinking about this one now.

 

* * *

 

He had a dream once, that he was floating on top of a vast sea of blackness, amidst the endless stars which seemed to swim around him like tiny bioluminescent fish. He recalled later that there was a bluish glow, faint at first before it grew larger and to the point where the piercing whiteness was all he could see even behind closed eyelids.

 

It had faded after a few seconds, but a strange redness had painted his line of vision soon after. Even as his eyes were closed, it was almost as if he could properly experience the scene around him: the darkness and its stars, the occasional comet which passed by, the bright hotness of the newfound light: blue and red in colour respectively…

 

Just before the long blade of a sword could reach him, Valt’s eyes had snapped open.

 

* * *

 

Several days later, he found himself standing in front of the large public bey dish, at the park he’d known for as long as he could remember, with Valkyrie clutched tightly in his right hand.

 

He had to get stronger, practice harder… he had to catch up or else he’d be left behind.

 

He had not noticed the way the colours of the sky had changed, the gradient of warm oranges and pinks blending into dark blue, and finally - when he lifted his head towards the endless space above - he was staring into the same vast black sea he had dreamed of.

 

In the midst of the twinkling night sky, a lone star shone the brightest of them all.

 

* * *

 

He had another dream two years later.

 

This time, Valt was convinced that it had happened already while he was in kindergarten - it just felt too _real_ , somehow.

 

He could still see the childlike figure in front of him, those crimson eyes bright with innocence, his tiny pale hand soft and delicate against his own. This time, he had noticed the sunset immediately.

 

They were running, laughing in unison as their hands linked them together, the other boy close behind him as he led them across the grassy path and past the river.

 

They had stopped near the bridge, and looked at each other as soon as they both caught their breaths. Valt was the first to smile, and the first to speak.

 

_“Let’s be together forever, Shu!”_

 

The words had carelessly tumbled out of his tiny mouth, like a loose dandelion in the wind which broke apart until its seeds scattered and drifted out of sight.

 

Shu’s bright eyes caught his own, his lips forming a surprised 'o’, before it dissolved into the soft smile he’d known since the first day they met.

 

_“Yeah.”_

 

* * *

 

Another year had passed since then.

 

He saw even less of his friends than before. Some of them even stopped competing in tournaments, or stopped beyblading altogether.

 

He tried to deny the words they said as simple excuses, a way to escape from the inevitable reality that would prevail.

 

 _“Life’s just getting too busy nowadays.”_  
_“I have to start thinking about university plans…”_  
_“We’re not kids anymore! Geez.”_  
_“It was fun when we just started, you know?”_

 

In no time at all, all his friends had changed, had drifted further away from him.

 

It was probably naïve of him to think that they would all stick together. With his perfect world shattered, it had struck him with a paralyzing fear which he could not properly define, and definitely would not acknowledge.

 

_“What will you do when everyone goes their separate ways?”  
“I don’t know.”_

 

And there was nothing else he could do.

 

* * *

 

He decided to quit Beyblade a month before graduation.

 

After Shu’s retirement a year earlier, it didn’t feel right to continue with the sport. They had done everything together, and yet they couldn’t simultaneously end doing the thing that they loved the most. He began to grow more disinterested as the days passed: he no longer had friends to practice with, his opponents no longer filled him with excitement because he - and Valkyrie - were unstoppable; no one wanted to battle with him anymore, because they absolutely hated to lose.

 

_It was lonely at the top._

 

It had taken just seconds for Valt to realise how Shu had felt for the longest time.

 

* * *

 

They had been all alone, surrounded by sunlight and lush greenness and the bluish-black shadows that the leaves cast over them. The perfect and cloudless blue sky hung over their heads as they stood facing each other.

 

Valkyrie had been hastily shoved into his pants pocket, with Valt's sweaty hand gripping onto it tightly as he swallowed. He still believed in Valkyrie, no matter what anyone else thought.

 

“Shu…” he near-whispered, closing his eyes as he tightened his grip on the bey in his pocket.

 

His closest friend said nothing, and even though his own eyes were shut, he could feel the gaze of those red eyes on his nervous form, intense enough to burn holes through him, to see _right through him_.

 

He’d known Shu for as long as he could remember: why was this so _hard_?

 

“Shu… I…” he choked out. He had planned everything out meticulously in his head, secretly rehearsed the exact things he wanted to say. He wouldn’t be reckless and leave things to the last minute again as he would’ve done before. He abhorred the way those words that he had kept bottled in his mind for so long decided to escape at the wrong moment, betraying him when he needed them the most.

 

Suddenly, his mind was a blank canvas, and he couldn’t find the right words to say.

 

He swallowed the growing lump in his throat, and ignored the way his knuckles turned white under the fabric of his pants pocket, ignored the way that the edges of Valkyrie’s layer disk cracked from the pressure.

 

In the end, he couldn’t do it. Consumed by humiliation, he spun around and fled, running and running until his lungs burned and his legs ached, running like he had in his past dream, except that he was alone this time.

 

* * *

 

He had been sitting on his bedroom floor during his final vacation when he heard the buzz of his cellphone on top of his desk.

 

'Meet me at the usual spot,’ the text message had read. There was no time or date written, yet somehow… Valt just _knew_.

 

Pulling out the blue-and-yellow beyblade he had devoted most of his life to, he uttered, “Is that so, Valkyrie?”

 

_Ping._

He did not miss the affirmative glint of light which followed soon afterwards.

 

* * *

 

They had met at the park again, at the same spot where they had their first battle all those years ago. Somehow, when Valt had reached the old and worn bey dish, his long-term friend and rival had already been standing on the other side.

 

“You’re late as usual, Valt.” Shu had said teasingly, making him blush and utter a half-hearted excuse. Shu had laughed softly before saying that it was alright.

 

He felt the butterflies return, his mouth was dry and his legs were unusually shaky as he attempted to take another step forward.

 

Shu’s eyes softened upon looking at the other boy, before he smiled softly and closed the distance between them.

 

_“I have some things I need to tell you.”_

 

Once again, Valt had not noticed when day turned to night. The only thing he could remember before being led to the apartment was the feeling of Shu’s hand clasped against his own.

 

* * *

 

He felt a pair of hands on his back, the soft fabric of his T-shirt gently being pulled up until he felt the cold night air against his exposed skin, the touch of Shu’s fingers gentle yet like sparks which danced across bare flesh. He could feel a pair of lips trailing from his earlobe down to his jawline, the warm breath against the crook of his neck.

 

Even in the inky darkness, it seemed as if Shu’s eyes pierced through him with that bright crimson gaze. It froze him to the spot and paralyzed him from the inside, knowing that his closest friend could read him so easily.

 

“Shu… I…” Valt tried to speak, but he was stopped by a finger pressed against his lips.

 

“Shh, don’t talk…” Shu whispered, gently pulling his hand away and leaning closer until their lips met once again.

 

He felt himself being drawn towards the other, his arms tightly wrapped across Shu’s back, the way they had fit so _perfectly_ against each other on top of Shu’s single bed as the leftover shards of Valkyrie’s layer disk lay forgotten next to the discarded fabric on the floor.

 

Until now, he had not anticipated anything like this to happen, not even in the deepest of his subconscious thoughts. But as he relaxed and surrendered himself into the darkness, he thought that perhaps it was destined to be that way.

 

* * *

 

“I had a dream once…” Valt murmured later that night as he lay curled up next to the other, his eyes closed in the middle of drifting off to sleep and not really paying attention to the words which effortlessly tumbled out.

 

“Hmm?”

 

“It was a long time ago.” Valt continued. “I was all alone, surrounded by the stars… I think that was the first time I met Valkyrie.”

 

“Mm. Tell me more.”

 

“Spriggan was there, too.” Valt added, smiling softly at the memory. “Did you ever have the same dream, Shu?” he asked.

 

“Probably.” Shu replied absentmindedly, his eyelids half-closed from fatigue. “But like you said, it was a long time ago.”

 

“Then, do you remember the one where we ran past the river, until we got to the bridge and made that promise?” Valt asked, propping himself up on one elbow and looking up at the other.

 

“How could I forget,” Shu chuckled softly, leaning in closer until their breath grazed each other’s faces. “I’m more surprised that you still remember that.”

 

“ _How could I forget_ ,” Valt echoed with a light smirk, before he leaned up to plant a soft kiss on the other’s lips. As they parted, he moved to reach his hand over until his fingers intertwined with Shu’s.

 

“Does it not hurt?” Shu asked softly as his thumb stroked over the palm of Valt’s hand. Valt shook his head.

 

“It’ll get better.” he answered, looking down at their laced fingers. They lay together for what felt like hours before Shu broke the silence once again.

 

“I’ll always be here, Valt,” he murmured as he reached his other hand up to stroke the other boy’s blue hair, making Valt hum softly in approval.

 

“Me too.” Valt replied sleepily, nuzzling his face further into the warmth of Shu’s torso.

 

“I’ll be with you as long as I’m still here,” Shu spoke, his voice gentle and reassuring. His hand which was on top of Valt’s head had moved into a slower rhythm as he felt himself fall deeper into unconsciousness.

 

Just as he thought the conversation was over, he heard Valt’s sleepy voice mumble: “Hey, Shu?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“I think I want to start Beyblading again…” Valt had said. It seemed as if he was going to add something else, but then his eyes had fluttered closed as his breathing fell into a lulling rhythm.

 

Shu leaned down to plant a gentle kiss on his hair before closing his own eyes, a small smile gracing his lips as he felt himself drift into sleep.

 

_'Tell me all about it in the morning, Valt…’_


End file.
